We'll Meet Again
by PenguinsPenguinsPenguins
Summary: Post 6x09. Contains mild spoilers with a mild twist. Chapter 7 is rated T for mild abuse.
1. Chapter 1

Based on 6x09 with a mild twist. Contains mild spoilers. If you haven't seen and don't like spoilers don't read! :)

I will continue my series of one shots but wanted to upload this separately just because of spoilers. As always enjoy and reviews are appreciated.

***Disclaimer* I do not own Castle but it would be awesome if Mr. Marlowe would share or at least give us a murder mystery musical. **

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_Even on the worst days, there is a possibility for joy. _

**We'll Meet Again **

Kate stood frozen, unable to move or speak as the music continued playing. Rick recognized the look in her eyes. It wasn't a look he saw often, in fact the last time he had seen this particular look was when she was lying on the ground bleeding, fighting for her life. Kate Beckett, the woman who could strike fear into the toughest man in an interrogation room, was scared.

He slowly moved towards her, "Kate…" Still nothing. He slowly reached out and took her hand rubbing small circles across her knuckles. He looked down at her. Her eyes, usually reflective of all the care and love she had towards him, were empty, almost cold. Realizing the music was still playing, he quickly moved away from her to silence it. Silence, except the light crackling embers of the fireplace, filled the loft. He returned to her gently taking her hand, leading her to the couch. As Rick pulled her into his lap she buried her face in his neck, suddenly broken from her trance. "It was supposed to be over."

"I know but we're going to get through this just like we get through everything else." He felt her warm tears begin to fall on his skin. He hated seeing her cry. All he wanted to do was protect her, take her somewhere safe where no one could ever touch them.

"No Rick. I'm not talking about Tyson," she mumbled into his skin, "you killed him. Like I said earlier, even if you hadn't shot him, no one could survive that fall."

"Kate, they never found his body. He could have had it all planned from the beginning."

She pulled away to look at him, "Tyson always killed women Castle. Why kill someone that looked like Espo? How did Dr. Kelly Niemann get herself placed in the same prison where Tyson served time? Where is all the money coming from? Someone with connections is behind this whole thing. He's trying to make us believe Tyson is committing these murders.

"Kate, I…"

"No, Castle," she interrupted him, "Why_ that_ song? We'll Meet Again? My mom loved that song. She always said it gave her hope. Hope that no matter where we go, across the world or down the road, even in death, we would be together again someday. Her best friend gave almost that exact same speech in a toast at the reception after my mom's funeral. None of this was 3XK. It was Bracken. He's sending me a message."

"Kate, stop for a second. I trust your instinct. I asked you once to walk away from this. I know how much catching Bracken means to you and I would never ask you to walk away again. I don't want to risk losing you but I love you, and if you want to pursue this, I'm in it with you. Until the end. I'm right here. Always," he finished reaching to wipe the last tear from her cheek.

She smiled, "I love you too. I'm not scared anymore. I'm in control now, not them. As long as I have you by my side I know I can face anything. She leaned in giving him a brief kiss, "I think this is it Castle. This is my chance to finally make Bracken pay."

_In the end the best you can hope for is to find a place to make your stand. _

_And if you're very lucky, you find someone willing to stand with you._

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Thanks for reading! :) Thoughts?


	2. Chapter 2

This was originally going to be a one-shot but I decided to continue it. Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorite, and followed!

As always reviews and suggestions are welcome. :)

***Disclaimer* Still don't own Castle. Still hoping for a musical. **

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Kate lightly twirled her mother's wedding ring back and forth, pausing momentarily, staring down at it. The ring she wore everyday close to her heart used to be a simple reminder of the life she lost and the reason she became a cop. Now it was a reminder of so much more, a reminder of the day she almost died herself at the hands of her mother's killer and the love she gained because of it. She glanced down at her own engagement ring, smiling at the memory of the day Rick proposed. She let her mother's murder consume her once and it had almost torn her and Rick apart, but in the end brought them closer than she ever thought they could be. She let out a deep sigh, tucking the necklace back under her shirt, feeling the cool metal slide against the scar from the bullet that almost took her away from him.

"Yo," Esposito interrupted her from her thoughts, "where's Castle?"

"Oh, he decided to sleep in. Late night." She hated lying to Ryan and Espo but she wasn't ready to tell the boys about the previous night's events. She wasn't ready to face the questions and concerned stares from her closest friends when they heard she was going after Bracken again, not until Castle was here. "Oh. Well Ryan and I started running through the Gregg's Baker account again only to find that it was emptied and closed late last night."

"Dumped to another account setup by another shell corporation," Ryan laid the folder on her desk, "also untraceable."

"And Kelly Nieman?"

"Disappeared without a trace. No activity on her cell phone or credit cards," Espo folded his arms across his chest.

Kate noticed Castle getting off the elevator, "Ok guys keep checking into it, me and Castle are going to take another shot at Carl Matthews." She grabbed her coat off her chair and hurried to intercept him before he could say anything to Ryan and Espo.

"She's acting weird," Ryan said casually sitting back down at his desk.

"You're too suspicious bro."

"I'm a cop," he smiled, "but seriously, you don't think anything is wrong do you?"

"No. If there was she would tell us."

"You didn't wake me this morning."

"I thought you could use the sleep seeing as how you stayed up half the night watching me," she smirked keeping her eyes on the road.

"No I…"

"Don't try to deny it Castle. I know you. How many times do I have to tell you it's creepy to stare? Especially when I'm sleeping," she was still smiling, almost joking.

Just as he was about to make a comeback her phone rang. "Beckett. What? How? Ok. We were already on our way." She hung up and immediately dialed Ryan's number. Rick was staring at her from the passenger seat waiting patiently. "Hey Ryan. You and Espo meet me at the prison. Carl Matthews was found dead in his cell this morning. Looks like a suicide."

"You don't think it was actually a suicide do you?" She glanced at him, "No. He and Dr. Nieman were our only leads. Now he's dead and she could be for all we know." Rick reached for her hand, running his fingers in a slow pattern across her knuckles, "we'll get him. I promise."

She glanced at him again, this time instead of seeing his normal smug smirk she saw the look of pure love, sincerity, and worry. "I know we will," she squeezed his hand, "he'll slip up eventually."

They rode the rest of the way in silence, Carl Matthews' last words to them resonating in her head, "I know you think you've got this all figured out, but you don't."

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Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

This is kind of a filler chapter, next one will be more action filled. Maybe tomorrow?

***Disclaimer* Yeah right. I wish. **

**Chapter 3 **

"Hey," Esposito caught her by the arm as she went to get coffee, "are you ok?"

"Yeah. Of course. Why do you ask?" She looked towards Castle as she answered.

"Ryan and I just noticed you've been kind of off today. You too bro. You didn't even have any of your wild theories to offer at the scene."

She took a deep breath, grabbing Castle's hand, "Last night when we were at Dr. Nieman's office Castle took a pen off her desk. When we went back to the loft, he was playing with it and found that it was actually a USB drive." She continued telling Espo the story surrounding the song, her mother, and her suspicions about Bracken being behind the most recent "3XK killings." Castle stayed silent while she talked, gently squeezing her hand for comfort.

"Beckett…"

"Espo, before you say anything, I'm fine," she forced a smile, "I'm not going to let it control me again."

He looked at Castle, then back at Kate, "Well you know we're all here for you. Right?"

Ryan entered the break room almost out of breath, "I just came from seeing Lanie. Matthew's death wasn't a suicide. The ligature marks on his neck were straight across, if he had hanged himself the marks would be at a downward angle." He pulled the photos out of the manila folder and laid them across the table, "someone staged the whole thing."

Esposito look at Beckett, "whoever killed Matthew's could be going after Nieman next."

"Yeah if they haven't already," Rick piped in.

They all three looked at him disapprovingly. "Sorry, I'm just saying," he mumbled taking a sip of his coffee.

"You two keep running a trace on her credit cards and cell phone, see if she has any family or friends around town that may have heard from her. Castle and I will track down coworkers and known associates of Carl Matthew and see if we can find some solid answer on who he's working with."

Ryan looked at them puzzled, "I thought we had proof it was Tyson behind this?"

"Come on bro. I'll fill you in," Espo clapped his hand over Ryan's shoulder pulling him out of the break room.

"I should have let that assassin take Bracken out a year ago," Kate mumbled picking up the pictures.

"Hey," Rick grabbed her arm gently pulling her in for a quick hug, "this isn't your fault. You saved his life because that's who you are, you protect people, no matter who it is or what they've done. I told Bracken while you were interrogating Noah Charles that I would have stood and watched him get in that car, but deep down, I don't think I could have. We're not like him Kate, we will get justice the legal way."

"I know we will. I just feel like he's always one step ahead of us. He always knows our next move."

Rick pulled her in for another hug as Ryan sprinted into the break room, "we just got a hit on Nieman's credit card!"


	4. Chapter 4

***Disclaimer* Do not own. **

**Chapter 4 **

"Where?"

"A bodega in Brooklyn. I have the address," Espo said quickly.

"Let's go."

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"Have you seen this woman?" Kate held up the picture in front of the store clerk.

"Doesn't look familiar," he answered.

"Well our records indicate she used a credit card here about 45 minutes ago," Kate stared him down, looking for any sign of indiscretion.

"Don't know what to tell you. I've been here all day and I haven't seen her," he stared right back at her with no sign of backing down.

"Do those work?" Rick had been looking around the place and noticed two security cameras, one facing the register and one at the door.

"Yeah," he glanced to Rick and then back at Kate.

"Mind if we take a look?"

"Suit yourselves but I'm telling you, she wasn't here."

They walked to the back room and took a seat in front of the closed circuit television. "Roll the tape back to 5pm." The clerk did as he was instructed. Kate and Castle watched the screen intently, "there," Kate paused the tape, "5:04."

"That's not Kelly Nieman," Rick mumbled. Kate looked at the clerk, "any way this timestamp is off?"

"No."

"Do you know this man?"

"Local drunk, comes in to buy booze every couple days, think his name is Bill…Bill Stanish

"Do you know where we can find him?"

"He usually hangs out in the alley by the bar a couple blocks down."

She and Rick stood and left quickly, only pausing momentarily for a quick thank you.

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Ryan walked up as they exited the bodega, "no one in the area has seen Nieman."

"She wasn't here. A man named Bill Stanish was using her credit card."

That's always a good sign," Espo interrupted sarcastically.

"We're heading over to his normal hangout. You guys keep canvassing the area. She had to be here at some point to leave her credit card. See if anyone noticed anything unusual."

They sat in front of the alley waiting for Bill Stanish to show up. Rick was the first to speak, "Kate, we've been here for two hours, Ryan and Espo already went back to the precinct. What do you say we just try again tomorrow?"

"No. He isn't at his apartment, he'll show up. We just have to…" She stopped suddenly and jumped from the car. Rick turned to see the man they had been waiting for stumbling down the alley with two other men. He jumped from the car and took off after her as she was yelling, "Mr. Stanish! Police! We have a few questions for you!" He dropped the brown paper bag shattering the contents and started running in the opposite direction, the other two men not far behind. Rick was about to round the corner when he heard gun shots. "Kate!" He screamed, praying she was okay.

He finally made it down the alley way, seeing her on top of the man, handcuffing him. "Pulling a knife on an officer isn't a good idea," she was telling him sternly. She pulled him to his feet. "I didn't do anything wrong!" He was yelling, "you have the wrong man!"

"You have the right to remain silent," she began, the man still yelling incoherently in his drunken state. Rick, staring at her, just thankful that she was okay.

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So. Reviews?

Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys! Sorry it's taken so long to update but I started 2 other stories which you should check out also (Letters Home & Nightmares). Don't know when I will get to update this one again but I will try by this weekend. Thanks again for all the reads and reviews! :)

***Disclaimer* I do not own Castle or any characters involved, except Bill.**

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**Chapter 5 **

"Where is Kelly Nieman?" Kate leaned across the table inches from their suspect's face, staring straight into his eyes, hoping to catch any glimpse of guilt. She had decided to let him stew overnight in the drunk tank, hoping she would get more answers from him when he sobered up.

He stared right back but stayed completely silent. She slammed her hands down making him jump slightly, "Where is she?"

"I don't know her."

"We have you on tape using her credit card and you still had it on you when we arrested you. Now, I ask you again, where is Kelly Nieman?"

"Someone gave me that card. Said they didn't need it anymore," he didn't flinch, didn't even blink.

Kate pulled the photo of Dr. Nieman out and laid it on the table in front of him, "Is this the woman that gave you the card?"

"No," he replied calmly, "it was a man."

She let out a sigh and sat back down in her chair, "can you give me a description?"

"He was white…average height," he looked down at the table for the first time, averting his eyes from her gaze.

"What else?" She noticed the slight movement, something had spooked him. Rick, who Kate had instructed to stay behind the one way mirror, noticed it too. "Bill," her voice gentler now, "what else did you see?"

He looked back up at her and swallowed hard, "he had a knife and blood on his suit. He said if I said a word to anyone they would kill me."

"They who?" He shook his head and looked back down at the table.

"Bill," she tried again, "if you tell me what you saw we can help you. We can put you in protective custody. They won't be able to get to you."

He looked back up let out a shaky breath, "He handed me the card and got in a black town car that was parked at the end of the alley. Another man in a suit was putting something in the trunk. It was dark, I swear that's all I saw."

Rick stepped back and leaned against the wall. Kelly Nieman was dead, just like he had suspected, they were coming for Kate next, he knew it, and there was nothing he could do to stop them. He stood up straight as he watched her stand and leave the interrogation room, he couldn't let her see that he was scared, he needed to be strong for her. He exited the room and met her as she was filling in Ryan and Esposito, "get uniforms to keep canvassing the area, just in case."

Kate walked to her desk and noticed a manila envelope addressed to her. She looked it over and noticed there was no return address, "who dropped this off?"

Ryan turned in his chair, "the mail clerk just dropped it a few minutes ago. Why? What's up?"

She ripped into the envelope, eyes growing wider at each picture she pulled out. Rick stood to look over her shoulder, his breath catching in his chest at the sight. She dropped the pictures and with shaking hands quickly but carefully shuffled them back inside the envelope, "Espo can you get these to the lab? Get them to dust for prints." She stood and grabbed her jacket, her whole body trembling now, "I need to go." Rick wanted so badly to reach out and hold her, tell her everything would be ok, but he wasn't so sure himself anymore.

Ryan and Esposito watch as she almost ran to the elevator, Castle not far behind her. Once she was safely out of range Espo opened the pictures to take a look at what could have upset her. Neither of them could have been prepared for what they saw, the crime scene photos of Beckett's mother. Her bloodied lifeless body leaned against an alley wall next to a pile of trash. They quickly scanned through picture after picture, the last one causing Espo to drop his head, almost as if in total defeat. The crime scene was exactly the same, every detail down to the pile of trash, but instead of Beckett's mother, it was none other than Kelly Nieman.

"This is sick," Ryan said quickly.

Espo nodded, shoving the pictures back in the envelope, "we need to catch this bastard now."

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So thoughts? Thanks for reading! :)


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed! :) Tons of updates coming this weekend because I had a lot of free time.

***Disclaimer* I own it and I'm marrying Nathan Fillion. Ha I wish but seriously no I don't own it.**

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**Chapter 6 **

Rick entered the precinct the next morning flashing everyone his famous Richard Castle smile and carrying two cups of coffee as usual. He stopped for a moment and looked around noticing no one was at their desks. Shrugging it off as coincidental timing he sat the coffees down on Kate's desk and pulled his phone out to try calling her again. Kate hadn't answered any of his texts or phone calls since she sent him away the night before.

_"Rick, I appreciate the concern but I promise you I'm fine." _

_"You're not fine Kate. No one would be after that. This guy, whether it's Bracken himself or a hired gun, is escalating. He's threatening you directly now. You're not safe." _

_She pulled him in for a hug, wanting nothing more than to stay wrapped in his arms all night. He ran his hands gently up and down her spine and kissed the top of her head. They stood at the front door of her apartment just holding each other for what seemed like hours before Kate finally spoke, "you should go." _

_He could feel her tears seeping through his shirt as she gripped him tighter. "You can stay at the loft tonight, it's safer there," he knew it wouldn't make her change her mind but it was the only thing he could think of. She pulled back wiping away her tears, "As much as I would love that, I have some stuff here I need to take care of." _

_"Then I can stay here," he tried. _

_She smiled up at him, "If you stay here I won't get any work done and you know it." _

_"You would love every minute of the distraction and you know it," he shot back, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly. For the first time that day she laughed, that true Kate Beckett laugh that he loved to hear. She stood on her tiptoes to give him a quick peck on the lips, "I love you. Get going so I can get some stuff done." _

_"I love you too, always," he leaned in for another quick kiss before opening the door, "you'll call me if you need me, right?" _

_"Yes Rick," she rolled her eyes playfully. _

_"Okay. Until tomorrow?" _

_"Until tomorrow," she smiled. _

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Ryan and Esposito exiting Captain Gate's office. He walked over quickly, "hey guys. Where's Beckett?"

Ryan looked to Esposito, then back at Castle, "we thought she was with you…"

"I haven't heard from her since last night," Rick pulled out his phone again and frantically dialed her number.

Espo stood and walked towards him, "Beckett wasn't with you last night?"

"No. I took her home and she said she had some things to take care of and would call me in the morning, so I left," he explained.

Ryan pulled Esposito aside and was whispering incoherently to him.

"She's not answering. She hasn't been all morning and she didn't answer the door when I went to check on her." Rick looked at the two detectives questioningly, "guy my fiancé could be in danger! What aren't you telling me?"

"Senator Bracken was shot in the alley behind a restaurant uptown last night," Ryan explained, "He's in the ICU. They don't think he's going to make it."

"You think whoever did this has done something to Kate?" Rick looked from Ryan to Espo who stayed silent.

"Castle…" Ryan started.

"No," he interrupted, "you can't possibly think she's behind this. She's a cop! She's one of your own! You've known her for years. How could you possibly even consider that she would do something like this?"

Esposito finally spoke up, "bro we don't want to believe it. We're going to get to the bottom of this, trust me. They're running ballistics on the bullets they pulled from Bracken now, we're just waiting on the report. Right now we need to focus on finding Beckett."

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Review? Thanks! :)


	7. Chapter 7

This chapter contains some abuse so I'm bumping the rating for this chapter only to T. Just a warning.

***Disclaimer* I do not own Castle, unfortunately. **

I'm going to update Minutes tonight and hopefully Nightmares tonight or tomorrow. :) Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed.

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**Chapter 7 **

Kate started slowly coming to her senses, her head was pounding, and she felt something warm dripping down the side of her face. She tried to reach up to see what the liquid was but quickly realized her wrists were tied down. Kate frantically looked around to no avail, the cloth covering her eyes made everything pitch black. She took a deep breath, _don't panic, you're trained for this. What happened? Where am I? Where is Castle? Please…please let him be okay. _All thoughts of her own safety stopped the moment she thought of him, she tried to yell for him but all that came out was a raspy cough.

"Detective Beckett. You're finally awake."

Kate stopped struggling against her restraints, she couldn't be sure if the shiver that ran down her spine was from the coldness of the room or the coldness of her captor's tone. _I know that voice…but it can't be..._

"Nothing to say detective?"

She wanted to scream at him, threaten him, try to reason with him…anything, but her mouth felt like sandpaper. She did her best to choke out, "wa...water."

He walked towards her and tilted her face up pressing the bottle to her lips, barely letting her get a taste of the cool liquid before pulling it away. "What do you want from me?"

He scoffed, "I don't want anything from you detective. I want to destroy you."

She was confused. _Destroy me? How is taking me hostage going to destroy me?_ "Where is Rick?"

"I tell you I'm going to destroy you and all you can think about is that stupid fiancé of yours?"

"Where is he?!"

"I didn't kill him if that's what you're asking. He wasn't at your apartment last night, remember?"

_He wasn't there last night, she remembered now, I sent him home. He's safe. He and the boys are looking for me. _"How? Why are you doing this?"

"You and the writer ruined everything," he was circling her, like an animal toying with its prey. He finally stopped in front of her and ripped the cloth off her face, making her blink furiously as she tried to adjust to the light. He grinned at her menacingly, "you didn't actually think he killed me, did you detective?"

Kate swallowed the lump in her throat, "Tyson."

"In the flesh."

"What do you want from me?"

He slapped her, hard, almost knocking her over and started laughing. "Bracken's in the hospital, probably dead by now. You were alone last night and now you're missing. Do the math detective."

_He can't possibly know about Bracken and my mother_, _there's no way. Unless he's been following me. What if he bugged my apartment? What if he's been watching me this whole time? _Her face was stinging from the slap but she knew she couldn't give up any information willingly, so she tried to play dumb, "Why would anyone think I would try to kill Senator Bracken?"

He slapped her again, harder this time, toppling her over into the floor. She screamed out as her cheek connected with the cold concrete. "Don't play dumb detective! It only makes me angry."

"I don't know what you're talking about! I have no reason to want Bracken dead!"

She felt his foot connect with her ribs, "Don't." Kate inhaled sharply causing her to cough uncontrollably, another kick, "lie," and another, "to me." He stopped and stared at her for a moment. After her coughing finally ceased he squatted down in front of her and grabbed her face, "Are you ready to cooperate now or do you need more convincing?"

She tried to hold back her cries as she nodded but everything hurt, she could already feel that more than one of her ribs was broken, she was lying in a small puddle of her own tears and blood, and she was scared. _Rick will find me. He knows I would never kill anyone, even Bracken. _

_RCKBRCKBRCKB47RCKBRCKBRCKBRCKB_

"She's not here guys." Ryan and Esposito had instructed him to check the house in the Hamptons even though he told them a thousand times that she wouldn't go there without him. "I told you all she wouldn't be here. Something's wrong."

"Bro, we're at her apartment now. We've checked every…"

"Espo…Espo! What is it? What did you find?"

"It's just a note Castle, calm down," Espo replied pausing again to read the note.

_Rick, _

_If you're reading this then you already know what I've done. I'm sorry. I couldn't take it anymore. Please don't look for me. _

_I love you. _

"What does it say? When he received no reply he tried again, "Espo! What does it say?!"

"Meet us back at the station. Now."

"Okay but tell me what's going on. What does the note say?"

"Just get back to the station. We'll talk there," Espo shut his phone and turned to Ryan who was coming down the stairs. "Find anything?"

"There's a few spots of blood in the bathroom. Nothing significant but we may want to get CSU over here just in case. Did you find anything?"

He handed him the note and grabbed his phone to call the station. Ryan looked up from the note, obviously panicked, "This is bad Javi. This is really bad."


End file.
